An Unexpected Love
by graceling234
Summary: Cullen Bohannon took the job as foreman for one reason and one reason only: to kill the men who killed his family. But when he meets the fair haired maiden of the west, Mrs. Lily Bell, something warm and fuzzy begins to creep its way into his heart.
1. Chapter 1

_Tink, tink, tink, BAM! Tink, tink, tink, BAM!_ The sounds of the progressing railroad followed Cullen Bohannon as he climbed his way out of the cut. As foreman for Mr. Durant, Cullen was to keep the men working, pushing towards the seemingly elusive goal of forty miles of usable railroad. He hadn't been much of a railroad man until the Civil War began, and then only so he could learn how to best blow them up.

The war had ended not long ago, his Confederate brethren sullen and angry in their defeat. He had not exactly enjoyed the war, but had taken a sense of satisfaction in the battles they had won. Finally he had been doing something right. Until the official Confederate surrender at Appomattox.

Mary had not wanted him to join the army, but Cullen felt the pressure to defend his homeland. After the surrender, he had looked forward to seeing her and his boy, the two things in life that he had not failed at yet.

Coming home to find his wife raped and hung, the woman who raised him burned to a crisp in the hayloft of the destroyed barn, her arms around his boy as if protecting him from the fire, had flipped a switch in Cullen. Gone was the kind man who had loved his wife and son, replaced by the angry, driven killer obsessed with finding the men who had murdered his family.

The railroad was not a job he loved, or liked even. It was a means to the end; the end being hunting the last of the murderers and punishing them by taking their lives. Since beginning the job, he had been accused of a murder he had not committed, even though he would have committed it had Elam not done it himself, rescued the "fair haired maiden of the west" Mrs. Lily Bell, and taken down the band of Indians that had massacred a group of men including Robert Bell.

Sensing his attraction to her, Cullen had done his best to put as much distance between him and Lily, using his usually intimidating appearance and gruff manner to drive her away. Despite all his efforts however, Lily hadn't taken his hints and had only wormed her way into his life and mind.

As if his thoughts called her, Cullen turned to see Lily and Mr. Durant standing at the far edge of the cut, Durant attempting to keep the lovely lady from the working men's attention. Sighing, Cullen made his way through the sweaty men, a mix of black and white thanks to the Union's victory, to the pair.

"Mr. Durant. Mrs. Bell." His drawl seemed to float over them, ceasing the conversation they had been having.

Obviously annoyed at having Lily's attention diverted away from himself, Durant glared at Cullen. "Mister Bo-hannon."

Durant seemed to enjoy rubbing in his southern heritage, despite his abusing the South during the war, smuggling cotton out and reaping the profits of the limited product. Lily nodded at him, her small smile giving him a rush of warmth.

"How goes the progress, Mr. Bohannon?" she asked, grammar impeccable as always.

Careful to keep his feelings out of his voice, Cullen chuckled before responding. "Well, it seems to be going fine."

Lily laughed, her face lighting up and her eyes sparkling with mirth. "Full of information as always, Mr. Bohannon."

"Well…" Cullen looked back toward the men. "I guess I will see you around Mrs. Bell." He glanced toward Durant and slightly tipped his hat. "Durant."

Watching his long hair swing under the brim of his hat as he walked, Lily sighed in frustration. "That man is full of mysteries, is he not, Mr. Durant?"

Durant, still glaring at Cullen as he left, sucked in a deep breath before turning his sappy smile on her. "Yes. Yes he is."


	2. Chapter 2

"Mr. Bohannon?"

Cullen closed his eyes, sighed and turned around to face the source of the beautiful voice.

"What can I do for you, Mrs. Bell?"

Lily looked around Cullen's new home; a train car formerly belonging to the Swede.

"I see you have made yourself at home, Mr. Bohannon."

Ever since he had left to avoid being arrested for murder of a man he had killed suspecting he had helped to murder his wife and child, Cullen had been struggling to reestablish his reputation among the men. Just the other day, the men had rebelled and he had had to appoint a new foreman, Mr. O'Toole.

Small acts of rebellion were common, especially since he had stolen most of the men's payroll when he was with the gang who had turned him in.

"Thought I should make the most of it." Talking to her tended to scramble his thoughts, keeping most of his conversations with her to the minimum.

"I need a favor."

Cullen's eyebrows raised. "Why should I do you a favor, Mrs. Bell? Why not ask your man Durant?"

Frustrated, Lily sighed. "He is _not_ my man!"

Again, his eyebrows raised. "That may be, but I don't think he'll like me doin' you any favors."

Despite his gruff exterior, Cullen would gladly have done Lily a favor. Her lilting English accent cast a spell over him, ensuring she would be able to get anything out of him. No woman had ever affected him like this before. Not even his beloved Mary.

He was reluctant to hear the favor Lily wanted. Durant had bought his life and Cullen owed him for that, not that he would ever admit it. In his mind, Durant was the man who held sway over him and Cullen didn't like it.

"That's why you can't tell him."

Cullen, who had turned away from Lily to grab his breakfast plate, turned around, his hair whipping his face.

"You want me to do you a favor and not tell my boss about it. I sure hope that this favor is worth all this trouble, Mrs. Bell. We wouldn't want to see the consequences of angering Mr. Durant." Cullen's southern accent was especially heavy when he said Durant's name. It seemed that whenever he was angry or upset, his accent got thicker. Damn Durant and his contract.

Obviously relieved by Cullen's words, Lily continued on before she lost her courage and realized that she was asking a favor of the man to whom she was hopelessly attracted.

"Before Robert was killed, he had surveyed the land in front of, in, and behind the Rockies, discovering and mapping the safest way to get through them. A way that would save him time and money, both of which he desperately needs. With his dying breath, he asked me to take them to Mr. Durant and I protected them until I found the right moment to give them to him.

"As you know, he became short of money earlier in the year and almost lost control of the men, their loyalty wavering with the loss of their paychecks. The maps saved him."

She paused for a while, leaving Cullen staring intently at her face, scrutinizing her expression for any hint of what was going on in her head. The silence lasted long enough for Cullen to break into her thoughts.

"I already know this. What's the favor?"

Lily closed her eyes, seemingly searching for the courage to finish her request of the viciously gorgeous man standing before her.

"Robert wrote. All the time. To many men, powerful and not so powerful, asking for their help. I don't know exactly what the help was for, but I do know that whatever it was, it was important enough for him to hide it from me. And Robert rarely hid things from me."

Cullen sighed. "And how am I goin' to be of any help? Mr. Bell is dead ma'am. I can't ask him why he was writtin' those letters."

"No but you can dig up his body and search for them."

The drink he had been about to take froze on his lips. He lowered it.

"You want me to dig up your dead husband to look for letters."

"They aren't just any letters! They might explain to me why Mr. Durant and my husband entered such a great fight. I know it was not just about the railroad."

Ignoring her last statements, Cullen still looked straight into her eyes, his expression revealing nothing.

"You want me to dig up your dead husband." It was a statement, not a question. She nodded.

"Yes."


	3. Chapter 3

Of all the crazy things he had done in his life, this one was probably at the top. He had survived the war, his wife and son's deaths, killed many men, but this by far, had to take the crazy cake.

Cullen glanced out of the corner of his eye at Lily, her golden hair practically glowing in the light of the moon. When she had asked him to dig up her dead husband's body so she could look for letters that might explain issues that had to do with Durant, his first thought was _hell_ no.

But one look into those deep, sea blue eyes, and he was a goner. Whether she knew it or not, Ms. Lily Bell had Cullen's will in her hands. He would do anything she asked and he would give it his best shot. Not because of her beauty or her kindness, although both were very nice, no, she was slowly repairing the hole in his heart that had been ripped open when Mary and his boy had been killed.

Her caring words and angry tantrums were a soothing balm on his weary soul. And because of her power of him, here he was, digging up her dead husband in the middle of the night.

Cullen let his shovel drop from his shoulder to the edge of Robert Bell's grave, before he spoke. "Are you sure about this Ms. Bell? Once we start, there ain't no goin' back."

Her eyes fluttered closed and even from a few feet away, Cullen could see the pulse racing in her throat.

"Yes. I need to see those letters."

Cullen stared deep into those blue eyes and nodded. "All right then."

The ground was soft from the day's rain and the fledgling grass parted easily under Cullen's shovel. Flashbacks of digging Mary's grave played before his eyes, his mind insisting this was no different.

Instead of his wife, here he was, digging up Lily's husband. At least it wasn't Durant. Things would be a lot easier if Durant was dead. Or gone. Lily wouldn't be sharing his bed and wouldn't be shuttered and resigned towards him as she was now.

_THUNK._

Cullen's eyes shot toward Lily's, stormy gray clashing with sapphire blue. Her hand was over her mouth, her eyes shining with unshed tears, and her entire body was visibly shaking.

Cullen slowly crouched over the expensive boots just peeking out of the ground, and began to brush away the soil covering Lily's husband.

"Stop, please stop."

He had gotten to Robert's chin before Lily could no longer handle the sight of her dead husband.

"Do you see a satchel in his hand?" Lily's voice shook, either in anticipation or fear, Cullen wasn't sure.

"No. There ain't no bag of any kind in here."

"There has to be. It was there. I know it was there!" Her voice had begun to rise, hysteria creeping into her voice. "Look harder!"

Having seen his own wife dead, Cullen knew how hard it was for Lily to see Robert like this, but something else had begun to bother her.

"Ms. Bell, there ain't nothing else but your husband's body in this grave. His pockets are empty. Unless there have been grave robbin', your husband don't have the letters."

Cullen's words seemed to break a dam in Lily. She rushed to the edge of the grave and began to climb down into it with Cullen.

Cullen grabbed Lily's arms and hoisted her back onto the ground above the grave.

"Ms. Bell, you can't come down here. It ain't good for you to see him like this."

Beyond logic and reason, Lily pushed his hands away and tried to shove her way past Cullen's body. Tears were streaming freely down her face and sobs were racking her body.

"They have to be here. They have to be."

Cullen climbed out of the grave, put his arms around Lily's waist and yanked her out of sight from Robert's body. He sat her down, her back against her chest, her head on his shoulder, and her hands holding his in a death grip.

He didn't know how long they sat there, but he would have sat there all night if that's what it took to get Lily to calm down. Eventually her sobs subsided, and quiet hiccups took their place. Instead of strangling his hands, hers were stroking his. Quietly they sat, Cullen's warmth seeping into Lily's cold body.

Lily turned her head upward to stare into Cullen's eyes, and sighed at what she saw. The emotion was nothing compared to what had been in Robert's eyes when he had looked at her, but Cullen's eyes reflected a whole new world.

A world of wild adventure and tumultuous emotions, raging passion and wonderful care. Cullen saw the hesitation in Lily's eyes and made the decision for her.

A small gasp, and Cullen's lips were sealed over hers.


End file.
